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Budgets/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim & Moby Tim and Moby are walking through a carnival. Moby is holding some cotton candy. There is an image of a dollar sign on Tim's T-shirt. TIM: See? Other than that cotton candy, we made it through the whole carnival without spending any money. Tim pauses. A booth with stuffed anteaters has caught his attention. He focuses on one in particular, speaking as though hypnotized. TIM: I must have that anteater. A booth attendant is standing next to baseballs and stacked milk bottles. He gestures toward a sign that reads "Five dollars for three throws". MOBY: Beep. TIM: I know it's not in my budget, but come on. He hands a five-dollar bill to the booth attendant. TIM: Three throws, my good man. The booth attendant gives Tim three baseballs. Tim throws them at the stacked milk bottles. The first two miss the bottles, and the third knocks down only the very top bottle. Moby laughs. MOBY: Beep. Moby hands Tim a sheet of paper. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, why are my parents always talking about keeping a budget? Thanks, Sasha. A budget is a plan for managing your money. It compares how much you earn to how much you spend. Tim looks at the booth attendant, who is holding and counting a handful of five-dollar bills. Tim sighs. TIM: I guess this is a good time to mention that the idea is to have less money going out than you have coming in. Spending less than you earn is the secret to saving money. A budget gives you a clearer picture of how much money you have and where all that hard-earned cash is going. An image shows Tim playing with a yo-yo. TIM: Once you realize that your allowance has to last you all week, you'll think twice about blowing it all on a glow-in-the-dark yo-yo. You were right, it totally wasn't worth it. The more money you save, the closer you are to affording something awesome that you really want like a brand-new titanium racer bike. An image shows a shiny, expensive bicycle. MOBY: Beep. TIM: That's true. Mom and Dad keep a monthly budget that deals with grownup stuff like house payments, groceries, and the electric bill. Business executives and government leaders use budgets too, to manage the finances of big corporations and entire countries. But it's a good idea for kids to learn how to be responsible with money. Tim opens a notebook and looks toward Moby. TIM: So, you want to help me redo my budget? MOBY: Beep. TIM: First, I have to figure out my income which is all the money I earn over a certain period of time. In this case, a month. I don't have a job that pays me a salary like my parents, so I'm stuck with my five-dollar-a-week allowance. Oh, and the ten dollars a month I get from Missus Goldstein for walking that smelly dog of hers. An image shows a snapshot of Tim walking a large poodle in a park. Tim is holding his nose. TIM: That adds up to an income of thirty dollars a month. A table shows four weeks of Tim's allowance and dog-walking money added together. TIM: So, to save money, I should spend less than that amount each month. Then there are my expenses, or anything I spend money on. I keep all my receipts and write down everything I buy in a handy notebook which helps me keep track of every dollar I use. Tim uses a second table to illustrate his explanation as he continues. TIM: As you can see, there are two types of expenses. Essential expenses are things that I absolutely need. They can be either fixed, which means that the amount stays the same every month, or variable, meaning the amount changes from month to month. For example, the cost of my library membership is always four dollars, but my cell-phone payment is different depending on how much I actually talk. Lastly, there are the non-essential expenses, the extra things I don't really need but spend money on anyway. Tim examines the table and the sum of his expenses. TIM: Add it all up, and I'm looking at twenty-six dollars in expenses last month. Compare that with my total income, and I'm actually in pretty good shape. I spent less than I made, leaving me four dollars to put into my piggy bank. An image shows a smiling piggy bank. TIM: Score! Tim's expense table reappears, with new items listing five dollars for the carnival game and a dollar for cotton candy. The total is now thirty-two dollars. TIM: But wait, the five bucks I just blew on this silly milk-bottle game, plus the dollar I spent on your cotton candy throws the whole budget out of whack. Instead of having four dollars left over, I spent two dollars more than I actually made. An image shows a sad-looking piggy bank. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right. Having a plan isn't good enough. You've got to stick to it. If you don't, you risk going into debt. And that can be really dangerous. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Being in debt means owing money, and owing money is a problem for a few reasons. For one thing, it often means you can't pay for everything you need. And later in life, being in debt can get you into serious financial trouble. It can even lead to bankruptcy, which is really unpleasant. To pay off the people you owe, the government can actually take away your possessions. It can be pretty painful. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, you can make smart spending decisions by going through your budget and figuring out where you can spend less. See if you can cut down on those variable expenses. An image shows a young girl on her cellphone. TIM: Do I really need to call Rita so many times when I see her every day at school? An image shows Tim playing with a yo-yo. TIM: Be totally honest with those non-essential expenses. Can I live without that glow-in-the-dark yo-yo? And take a closer look at those essential expenses. Some might actually be non-essential expenses in disguise. Like, does my study group really have to order pizza, or can we just ask somebody's parents to cook? MOBY: Beep. TIM: I'd like to save four dollars a month, which adds up to forty-eight dollars a year. Forty-eight dollars closer to getting that titanium racer. Moby holds up a baseball. MOBY: Beep. TIM: No way. I've learned my lesson. Tim looks at a five-dollar bill and closes his eyes. A thought balloon appears containing a titanium racing bike. TIM: You'll soon be mine, titanium racer. Oh, yes. You'll soon be mine. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Math Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Social Studies Transcripts